Laughing Babies April 2014-July 2015

There is nothing sweeter than a laughing baby.  For some reason most babies and children love me.  Often strange children come up to me and just follow me around, or they do that stare thing.  Its as if they really want to tell you something but they can't form the words.  Scott says it is because babies can see our spirits and I must have a good that they are drawn to. Its a sweet thought.

I chalk it up to my patriarchal blessing that says my mission in life is to be a mother in Israel. At first I thought that meant I should have a lot of children but as I grow in spiritual things I now believe that it means that I am to be like a mother to all.  To love all of Gods children as a mother would and help or bless them any way I can.

Sometimes I see some mothers that are confused or jealous by my gift and I try to ease their concerns.  It doesn't always work the way I would like but I am not too concerned about it.  They will find their peace with it eventually.

I am at peace with this interpretation of my blessing and hopefully I can do as the Lord would have me do.  I find that I really do love these children and maybe that is what they see when they look at me.

Whatever the case I find joy in these precious spirits. 

Yuba Lake Fun July 2015

Have I mentioned that I love the lake?  I think I have mentioned it once or twice.  For this trip we invited some friends down to the lake but it looked like the weather was not going to cooperate.  They were having a sand castle competition and that took up a large part of the nice beach so we had a spot that was less than great.  I felt bad that we were in a bad spot when we invited friends.  We also invited the rest of the crew but you never know if they are going to show up.  My family has been really non committal lately it gets a little frustrating.  

We hesitated even launching the wave runner because of a large storm cell over head.  I said we should just go for it.  We  launched them and the kids played in the water even though it was a little chilly.  After some time our friends called it and decided to head home.  I hate to say it but once they left the storm blew over and it was a perfect rest of the day.  

Stephanie and her family did end up coming and then we had a great time.  Mostly because the sun came out.  We got this new board called a Zup board its a cross between a knee board, a wake board, a boogie board, and a water ski.  I thought this would be a great way to introduce my kids to learning how to ski.
They start out on their bellies then pull themselves to their knees.  If they want they can just hold onto the handles while on their knees.  If they decided they have that down they can pull the rope off the hook and treat it like a knee board having control to steer any way you want.  Once you have that down you can choose to try the surf board/wake board/ski option.
It took a little convincing but once I got the kids on it they never wanted to get off.

4th of July 2015

For the 4th of July this year my sister Amy had a BBQ pool party at her house with her new swimming pool.  

We all had a good time swimming and snacking.  When it came time for fireworks poor little Lizzy was kind of nervous and her mom was even more nervous.  Thankfully she is young enough that she should be able to get over her traumatic experience.  I could tell that she really wanted to just be a kid and run around enjoying the fireworks.  I take that as a good sign.  The 4th of July is quickly becoming one of my favorite holidays.  It is in warm weather, there is no crazy demands. it usually involves playing in water, and there is fire in the sky.  It is just a no stress holiday, one where I can get away with not having to do too much to get ready for it if I don't want to.
Scott of course went a little crazy with the fire works, sneaking off to buy extra while I was busy entertaining kids.  But if it makes him happy it makes me happy.

Scottish Festival June 2015

The Scottish Festival is something my family looks forward to every year.  We originally started going to the one down in Payson but since they moved one up to Thanksgiving point and it is so much closer we have attended that one.  This year my kids (all 5 of them) have been saving their money so that they could buy a sword.  Scott was really eyeing one last year and I think he regretted buying it so this year he was prepared. He a bought replica Glamdring from Lord of the Rings "the foe hammer".  The rest of my nerd group could not be outdone so they each got a "real" sword.  I did find this flag in the sword booth and there are not many things that I have to have but this was one of them.  I have the same sticker on the back of my car. it says "The beatings will continue until moral improved".
 I wonder if the neighbors will hate me if I put it up in my front yard?
When we first walked through the gates we came across this Scottish Boba Fett.  The kids thought he was so cool
They have all the Highland games at this festival.  We always feel like the Caber toss is the most impressive.  This year we learned how they score it.  If you flip it over you want it to be right at 12 o'clock.  If it is any degrees either way you don't get as many points.  The person closest to 12 o'clock wins.  This year they didn't have the mini version of Caber toss for the kids to try but they did have sword fighting.
Since all my boys have been practicing their sword fighting for real they were prepared.  It was nice to see all those MMA lessons paying off.  William had excellent form and Brenny didn't back down.  I think the guy was a bit taken aback by Peter.  He didn't expect him to be as aggressive and good as he was.  I think they all could have spent hours at the sword fighting, it did help that they just got swords and wanted to prove what they could do.
For the record they didn't use their recently acquired swords for this sparing they used the practice swords provided.

Bridal Veil Falls July 2015

It was such a nice day I thought I would take my kids for a picnic up at Bridal Veil Falls. We stopped at Zuppa's to pick up some lunch for our picnic. The place was kind of crowded so we found a couple of benches near the river to scarf down our food because really we just wanted to play in the waterfall.  Once our tummy's were full, we headed up the trail to the waterfall. The water was pretty cold but it wasn't gushing like crazy so we were able to climb up the waterfall today.  It felt so good to put our feet in that cold cold water.  Ellie and William climbed almost to the top while Peter Brennen and I climbed halfway looking for some special stones.  I think Brennen was most impressed with the fish.
I tried to teach my boys how to skip stones across the little jetty where the fish were.  I made sure they knew how to find the nice smooth flat stones for the best result.  The little boys and I practiced skipping our stones for about 15 minutes while we waited for Ellie and William to finish their hike up the top.  The little guys even got a few stones to skip.
This is really a beautiful place that we are blessed to live in.  I am so thankful I am able to take some time and let me kids experience it.